BEIJING: The 29th Olympic Games, costing an estimated US$40 billion (RM132 billion) and shrouded by political controversies, burst into life yesterday with a spectacular opening ceremony.
President Hu Jintao officially declared the Games open at the “Bird’s Nest” stadium in front of 90,000 spectators and a worldwide television audience of up to four billion.
The Olympic cauldron was lit by Li Ning, the Chinese gymnast who captured three gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The opening ceremony, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Zhang Yimou, saw 5,000 competitors from 204 nations parade in a lavish event, lit up by 35,000 fireworks.
Many heads of state were attending the opening ceremony.
They included US President George W. Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
The extravaganza, cramming 5,000 years of history into just one evening, avoided many of the cliched images of China — no pandas, no red lanterns and no dragon dances.
China was taking no astrological chances — opening the Games at the auspicious moment of eight o’clock on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008. It paid dividends. The rain held off. The world’s greatest show is on.
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